08 Aug

Australia: Here’s the good oil on olives

By Mark Logan,
The Mediterranean diet, which includes copious amounts of olive oil, is well known for its health benefits but that is not why retired physician John Milla, and his wife Lorraine, took to planting olive trees at Abilene Grove 13 years ago.
An avid tree planter, Mr Milla was initially interested in the investment [...]

07 Aug

Australian Olive growers move to lift quality

By Phil Thomson, (from release)
The Australian Olive Association (AOA) has signed off on an industry code of practice to promote quality, authenticity and confidence in the Australian olive industry.
The code aims to provide security and confidence to consumers and investors in Australia and overseas by providing certification that Australian olive products meet high industry standards.
To [...]

23 Jun

the only olive harvester in the market that actually puts the olives in a bin

By Chloe Warburton,
Harvest time usually conjures up images of workers picking olives over the space of a long day, but technology has created a new and quick way to bring the crops in.
Max Boyle, owner and manager of Oil Hydraulics in Shepparton, has hit the jackpot with his OCCA Olive Harvester, a machine that attaches [...]

22 Jun

Sippin’ and slurpin’ olive oil

By Stephanie Oswald,

Ollo Extra Virgin olive oil, at just $11 per bottle, is a fabulous hostess gift, and something to keep on hand in your own cupboard.
I must admit, when I was invited to “slurp” olive oil out of a special glass while lunching at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta, I was a bit skeptical.
This [...]

11 Jun

Tradition lives on in olives

It’s been 11 years since Skarmoutsos decided to embrace his family heritage and become an olive farmer.
Mr Skarmoutsos owns Ambrosia Olive Farm, Eltons Road, Silverdale.
He bought it in 1997 as a bare 40 acre property.
Within two years he had covered it with 4000 olive trees.
Mr Skarmoutsos said his family had been growing olives in the [...]

06 Jun

Fair exports discussed at olive industry meeting

By Melinda,
The international olive industry is one step closer to implementing regulations that will support fair exports and consumers interest.
The step follows a hot topic session coordinated by the Australian Olive Association (AOA) at the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) annual meeting held in Seattle, USA, on 20 May.
Paul Miller, president of the AOA, was [...]

01 Jun

Australian Olives bear fruit in Victoria

Consumers may pay less for Australian olive oil after a bumper Victorian olive harvest. There was no harvest in many Victorian olive groves last year because of the drought.
Olive grower Richard Baum says a third of his trees will provide enough product to supply his markets.
“Probably the good news for consumers is that, given the [...]

01 Jun

Australian Olive theives have strike again

Olive thieves struck again.
The Amenduni Australian Olive Expo’s grove holds 200 olive trees, all of which have been stripped of their fruits due to be harvested before the October display.
The Hunter Valley, NSW, has also been hit recently.
The ACT grove is surrounded by security fences, which are more than one-metre high and have barbed wire [...]

27 May

Bug takes heavy toll on Australian olive growers

A number of olive groves in the Lower Hunter have nothing to harvest this year because of widespread damage from the olive lace bug.
Mike Wilson from the Hunter Olive Growers Association says the weather this year has been a major factor in the spread of the bug, which he estimates has destroyed at least 100 [...]

14 May

Australia’s largest olive oil company is expanding into Argentina.

Boundary Bend Limited, based in north-western Victoria, says it doesn’t make financial sense to put new plantings in Australia, while water prices are high and reliability of water is low.
Rob McGavin from Boundary Bend says there are some advantages to farming overseas.
“The land and water package in Argentina is less than ten per cent of [...]

14 May

The good oil on a top Australian’s crop

By Michelle Fenech,
It’s harvest season for olive growers in Wollondilly with Danny and Aydin Fahri having more than 20 tonnes to crop.
Mr Fahri said he was getting good quality olives this year after recent rainfall in the shire.
“Usually my trees don’t look so healthy,” he said.
“And I’ve never had a full dam at the end [...]

14 May

Olive heist mystifies Lovedale

It is like something out of a science fiction movie.
Four Lovedale olive groves have been completely cleared of this year’s crop, apparently overnight, with not a trace of vehicle movement, sound of machinery heard, and barely an olive to be found.
Between Wilderness Grove, Warraroong Estate, Sandalyn Estate and Zephyr Ridge, about 750 olive trees have [...]

01 May

Olive oil output falls for first time in West Australia

By Suellen Jerrard,
Olive oil production in West Australia is expected to slow this year for the first time since the fledgling industry got off the ground about a decade ago.
Falls in production around the State are being attributed to the tendency for olive trees to fruit to their full potential only every second year as [...]

10 Apr

Port Lincoln, South Australia: Record olive harvest expected

The region’s olive trees are bursting with fruit this year, after a low yield in 2007 due to drought.
The olive industry is looking up for Eyre Peninsula, with a record amount of olives, according to olive press operator and olive grower Peter Green.
Mr Green started harvesting his olives with the mechanical harvester he part-owns last [...]

16 Mar

Australia’s Heatwave shrivels olive crop

As South Australia endures the 15th day of its heatwave, Eyre Peninsula olive growers are battling in the lead up to next month’s harvest.
At Lincoln Olive View Estate, production is expected to drop by as much as 10,000 tonnes, with some trees bearing just a few kilos of olives.
Grower Kevin Burner says he must make [...]

14 Mar

Olive oil is voted best in Australia

By Callum Jones,
Olive farming is not usually associated with Northampton, but one resident has received national recognition in Australia for producing an award-winning olive oil.
Chris Perkins, aged 59, of Kingsthorpe, was brought up in an agricultural family in the Australian state of Victoria but came back to England when he was a teenager.
Since then he [...]

04 Mar

Liquid Olive leaf extract makes European debut in UK

By Shane Starling,
Australian olive leaf extract pioneer, Olive Products Australia (OPA), has gained a European-first distribution deal in the UK for its high-antioxidant liquid supplement.
While olive leaf extracts already exist on the European market - predominantly in cosmeceutical formulations as well as teas and pill-form food supplements - OPA’s offering is one of the first [...]

07 Feb

Australia, Victoria expects bumper olive crop

Western Victorian olive groves will yield 1000 per cent more than last year.
Drought in 2007 meant fruit couldn’t set on the trees.
Grove owner Deirdre Baum, from Laharum, says this season the trees are healthy and bearing fruit because of timely rain.
“This year, the trees have had bit of rain at the critical time and so [...]

16 Jan

Rylstone olive producer nabs contracts on ‘best trade trip’

A Rylstone olive producer says he is on his best trade trip to the United States and has gained contracts from his stand at a San Diego speciality food fair.
Nicholas Bentivoglio is in the US showcasing his Rylstone organic olive oil to more than 16,000 buyers as one of 40 Australian producers at the Fancy [...]

20 Dec

Summer storms decimate Australian olive groves

Severe summer storms are rolling across the southern and eastern states, in what is being tipped as one of the biggest weather fronts this year.
In South Australia, olive growers near Pinaroo, in South Australia’s Mallee, have sustained considerable losses, and set their crops back at least two years.
Manager of Barkworth Olive Grove, Ken Schutz says [...]

21 Nov

Australia: Olea sells off olive assets in $18m deal

Struggling olive producer and marketer Olea Australis last night unveiled an $18.75 million deal to sell most of its flagship Dandaragan olive business to investment scheme giant Great Southern.
Olea, which last year restructured its relationship with investors in its olive managed investment schemes, said the sale included the Dandaragan olive groves, buildings and processing equipment [...]

14 Nov

Boundary Bend vying for the title of Australia’s top farm exporter

By Martin Watters,
A LARA-based olive oil giant could become Australia’s top farm exporter eights months on from bracing for a potential $5 million disaster.
Boundary Bend limited is an agribusiness national finalist at this year’s Australian Export Awards after recently clinching the Victorian title.
The firm was Australia’s largest extra virgin olive oil supplier and the country’s [...]

06 Nov

Victorian olive oil company makes splash

By Britt Smith,
A VICTORIAN olive oil company with a Lara estate has won the gong for best exporter at the NAB Agribusiness Awards for Excellence.
Boundary Bend Limited trumped four other finalists, dominating across all categories including quality of marketing plan, product development and profitable entry into a new market.
Boundary Bend’s chairman Rob McGavin said the [...]

30 Oct

Investors sought for olive mine site project

An initiative which works to regenerate contaminated mining land by planting olive groves could spread to disused mine sites around the world.
Broken Hill’s Gourmet Products cooperative, in far western New South Wales, is currently calling for investors and has lodged a patent on the regenerating properties of the olive groves which until now has been [...]

28 Oct

Australian Olive Expo expected to attract 2000 visitors

The 3rd annual Australian Olive Expo is being held in Canberra next week, with over 2000 people expected to attend.
The Expo serves the olive industry stakeholders by providing a chance for growers to network, explore new equipment and products, and attend educational seminars.
“The exhibition section gives suppliers and growers a real chance to get together [...]